This must not be one of the Doctor’s “good days.” It seemed like each of his ideas and theories were rendered useless one after the other. You might not be blamed for thinking this was an episode of House, with theory after theory being wrong. Well actually, since this episode occurred on a pirate ship and a spaceship, you would be pretty wrong to think this was House. I mean, there were two doctors, but that’d still be pushing it.

How’s Amy?

She had two decent saves this episode: first, getting the Doctor out of having to walk the plank and second, by resuscitating Rory. Granted, during the first save she did give Rory the cut that put him in trouble in the first place, but let’s not sweat the details.

We also saw Amy get a visit from One-eyed-slot-opening Lady. Yeah… There’s really not much to say about it since we know so little about her. Granted it does remind me a bit of the cracks in time and space from last series, appearing in many episodes and being there but not revealing much at all. At least she can talk, unlike the cracks.

How’s Rory?

He still isn’t being used well enough. Now, I realize that compared to the Doctor, any companion would seem constantly incompetent but hey, Amy got the two guys out of trouble this episode. Rory seems to be in the “damsel in distress” role, in this episode anyway. And while you could call it refreshing that it’s a guy in the role, I’d rather have Rory the centurion back and ACTUALLY DOING STUFF!

How’s the Story?

A rather touching father-son story makes up the core of the episode. The rest of the story surrounding it works: it’s clever and has decently high-stakes. Interestingly, this is at least the second time with the Eleventh Doctor that apparent death is the only escape, with the same thing being part of the story of “Amy’s Choice.”

In Conclusion

On it’s own, it’s a functioning and enjoyable Doctor Who story. As the episode that came after two episodes that each had a valid claim to the most crazy freaking plot twists in recent Doctor Who history, it’s a let down. Except for that weird woman appearing once and quick mentions that yeah, the Doctor dies and they can’t tell him and yeah, Amy’s pregnancy is pretty wonky, nothing gets advanced and nothing gets revealed.